ABSTRACT
Most of the retrospection, in the Bicentennial Year of 1976, rightly focused upon the political and military aspects of the War of Independence. But the finances of the war—for both parties—have an interest of their own; not least for those concerned with the financial options facing beleaguered economies two centuries later. In some ways, the contrasts between the policies adopted by Congress and Westminster in that fateful struggle embody choices which still affect us all, for good or ill. The various strategies of public finance invariably reveal political no less than economic constraints facing governments.
